Wealth Effects LLC Boosts Stock Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Wealth Effects LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 930 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Wealth Effects LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $311,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Stonegate Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 8,377 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,801,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares during the period. Prospect Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $203,000. Perigon Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,537 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $15,212,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,038 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $347,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $611,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 target price (up from $385.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Guggenheim cut shares of Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $377.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.23, for a total value of $145,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,888,236.38. This represents a 7.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total value of $109,965,671.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,162,457 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,217,696,838.46. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,109,169 shares of company stock valued at $383,432,020 over the last 90 days. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $347.26 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $332.33 billion, a PE ratio of 57.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1-year low of $212.00 and a 1-year high of $369.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $336.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $294.60.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

Salesforce Profile

Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company's service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale.